PODGORICA (Reuters) - The trial of 14 people in Montenegro accused of an election day plot to kill the prime minister and bring a pro-Russian party to power began on Wednesday, with defense lawyers demanding the state prosecutor be removed from the case.

Montenegro says a group of Serb and Russian nationalists had a plan to attack state institutions on the day of an election last year and kill then-Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, who held the post for a total of 21 years.

The Kremlin has dismissed the accusation as absurd. Montenegro’s opposition accuses the government of fabricating the plot in order to keep Djukanovic and his Democratic Party of Socialists in power, which it did by a narrow win. ...

The defendants include 2 Russians, 9 Serbians and 3 Montenegrins, of which four are being tried in absentia. Among them are two Russian nationals accused of masterminding the plot.

It just happens to be a problem that lines up with Russia's view on things. ...

The hell? This is a country with less than 700,000 people that nonetheless honored its NATO commitment and sent troops to Afghanistan in the wake of the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the only time that Article 5 of the NATO charter ever has been invoked. Now, somehow, because the President* of the United States knows nothing about anything, Montenegro is a foreign-policy problem that could spin this country into a cataclysm. And, on the electric Twitter machine, Jake Tapper of CNN points out that the Russian propaganda apparatus has been using Montenegro as a wedge on NATO—and on Montenegrin domestic politics—for a while now.

If you want to argue that NATO expansion was too ambitious and that it was conducted too hastily, that’s an interesting debate to have, particularly if that expansion was based on Russia’s being too hobbled to be bothered by it. But the expansion took place, and Montenegro is now as much of a member of NATO as France is, and that commitment managed to keep the peace through times much more perilous than these. Of course, the United States has never been led by an ignorant mucksavage before, so we’ll have to see.

Adding:

TIME: Why President Trump's Comments About Montenegro Were a Win for Vladimir Putin

Ex-Montenegro leader fires back at Trump: ‘Strangest president' in history

Former Montenegrin President Ranko Krivokapić on Wednesday hit back at President Trump’s suggestion that defending Montenegro could get the U.S. drawn into a world war.

Krivokapić, who served as president of the country of fewer than 1 million from 2006-2016, told the BBC that Trump was the “strangest” American president ever.

"He's the strangest president in the history of the United States," Krivokapić said. ...

Krivokapić questioned Trump’s knowledge of foreign policy following the comments.

"With this kind of president, with his knowledge of foreign policy, who knows what is going on?” he asked. “Foreign policy is not his big thing."

He also said that Trump does not have to worry about such a situation, saying: "Peace in Montenegro is not in any kind of danger. Everything is under control. NATO forces are not required in Montenegro."

Montenegro has been in Putin's plans for more than a decade. Among the players who have worked on its takeover by Russia are Derispaska and Manafort. This article covers some of Russia's activities to undermine Montenegro's independence.

At the time, Putin wanted to establish a Russian outpost in the Mediterranean, and Montenegro–a coastal republic across the Adriatic from Italy—was seen as his best hope. McCain also lobbied for Montenegro’s independence from Serbia, calling it “the greatest European democracy project since the end of the cold war.” For McCain, the simplistic notion of “independence” from a country America had gone to war with in the late 1990s was all that mattered. What Montenegro looked like after independence seemed not to interest him. This suited Putin just fine. Russia had generally sided with Serbia against the West during the Balkan wars of the 1990s, but for the Kremlin, cutting Montenegro free from Serbia meant dealing with a Montenegro that could be more easily controlled. Indeed, today, after its “independence,” Montenegro is nicknamed “Moscow by the Mediterranean.” Russian oligarchs control huge chunks of the country’s industry and prized coastline—and Russians exert a powerful influence over the country’s political culture. “Montenegro is almost a new Russian colony, as rubles flow in to buy property and business in the tiny state,” Denis MacShane, Tony Blair’s former Europe minister, wrote in Newsweek in June. The takeover of Montenegro has been a Russian geostrategic victory–quietly accomplished, paradoxically enough, with the help of McCain and his top aides.